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As soon as Ryan left, I started texting Maggie and Layla and Gracie We decided to rill that Luke’s fa to dress up and go out and see the girls Sure, they’d stopped by the house to say hi when I’d got back to town, but there hadn’t been a lot of free time to see them since then

I was in grad school to be a landscape architect and working at a greenhouse part-time whenat school I dropped out and ca a semester off’ for my dad’s sake

My h school, and he’d never remarried Best I could tell, he’d never even considered it So it was just him alone in that old house unless I came to take care of hiot his medications and went to his cardiac rehab and physical therapy appoint the luiven his left foot if Ryan would’ve come and taken it over, but Ryan hite-collar all the way He’d been proer at the bank in the next town over, so taking time off to run the lumberyard wasn’t an option for him

So, there I was, back horee and operating the poorto my more successful brother bitch about his divorce I needed a night out with friends because I was getting resentful, and that was not a road I wanted to be on

I finished up with the receipts and started sweeping up I’d letoff because she had a cheot the broom and swept methodically down the ays inside It was like a trip into my past, the fresh, sweet sawdust s the floor Sorew up loving the sharp, alhtly musty scent of sawdust I’d take it over perfume any day

At the house, I showered, cursing the trickle of water that came out of the showerhead in the upstairs bathroom I missed my rainfall showerhead in my apart the conditioner out ofmy blow dryer from under the sink

My old roos that held s It had been a sudden relocation, and the state ofreflected the panic I’d been in at the time

I put on the cute jeans I used to save for going out when I lived in the city My ballet flats looked alien to me after teeks of discount store steel-toed work boots I put on a black top with the shoulders cut out and left s out of the bottoloss I felt like aI had a few free hours ahead of ot like that when I was stressed My ht that my shoulders would be up around my ears when I had a math test to take

I ie with her pretty red hair in a ram model, and Layla in her overalls Layla had worn overalls in some form ever since she moved to town sophomore year

“Welcoie said

“Thank you I’uys,” I said

“Like them? They’re new Got the her overalls They were actually cute gray ones that she’d cuffed and ith booties and looked like an outfit fro I squeezed her

“I talked to Cat earlier, and she said to give you a hug,” Maggie said, “So this one’s froain

“Gracie can’tdeal at work,” I said sadly

We hurried into Cecil’s It wasn’t the same as I remembered There was a new bar of beautiful polished wood, and pewter dishes of nuts and olives lined the bar along with a steady stream of patrons The old vinyl booths had been replaced with luxurious burgundy velveteen There were counter-height tables scattered throughout the rooe flat-screen TVs bolted to the far wall